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OLIVER E. DAVIS, OF CINCINNATI, OHIO, ASSIGNOR- TO CHAS. C. DAVIS, OF PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA,

MEDICATED BATH.

-.. M a .JPl-JCIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 301,483, dated July 8, 1884.

Application filed August '23, 1883. (No specimens.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known. that I, QLIVER E. DAVIS, of the city of Cincinnati, in the countyof Hamilton and State of Ohio, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Sulphurous Medicated Baths, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to the employment of mud-baths artificially prepared for curative 1o purposes; and it has for its object to provide such baths for the benefit of the general public, so that specific diseases may be treated at the home of the patient or at a public sanitarium or hospital without necessitating aj our- I 5 ney to the places where facilities are provided by nature; and to this end my invention consists in preparing artificial mud-baths of predetermined character to suit specific diseases or cases, and furnishing a convenient and JL) cheap means whereby such specifically medicated mud-baths may be brought within the reach of the public generally.

The curative effects of mud-baths are well known and recognized, as is evidenced by the .25 fact that every year hundreds of people seek to restore their broken health by resorting to the mudbaths of the celebrated hot springs of Arkansas, New Mexico, and other places.- At these places the baths are administered by 0 mixing the mud, peat, bog, muck, or other moistened earth with the waters from the various natural mineral springs in the respective localities, and applying the earth to the affected part, or immersing the part or the entire body in the mud, so that the remedies will be introduced into the system through the pores of the skin. The various localities are noted for their efiicacy for different diseases,depending upon the constituents of the waters or earths of the particular place; and in order to receive the benefits of such particular remedies, it is necessary that the patient travel great distances, which is not only expensive and inconvenient, but often impossible.

It is the object of my invention to provide such a system of treatment as will permit the application of such remedies as arebest adapted for the disease of the patient at the homes of the patients, or at centrally-located places so or sanitaria, and not onlyto be able toadministersuch remedies as nature has provided in the natural mineral waters and earths, but to be able to administer by external application such specific remedies as are best adapted for the treatment of the peculiar disease of 5 the patient.

In carrying out my invention, I preferably have tubs, tanks, or receptacles of the proper size and shape, lined with porcelain or other substances, which will resist the chemical action of the remedies employed. Into these receptacles is placed the mud or earth mixed with water, so as to be of the proper consistency and properly medicated with the de sired artificial compound. The character or composition of the medicine will of course vary according to the disease to be treated, and thecondition of the patient. If, for instance, there are indications fromthe diagnosis of the disease that the introduction of sulphur into the system in various forms would be beneficial, one formula I have adopted is as follows: it. Sulphuret potassium, six ounces; snlphurct sodium, four ounces; water, one gallon, or q. s. This compound is incorporated with the desired quantity of mud or earth.

The bath having been prepared is ready for use, though it is preferable to maintain the mixture at a temperature of from 98 to 120 Fahrenheit, and the body or member to be treated is immersed in the bath and allowed to remain a sufficient length of time to produce the desired results. The mud-bath acts on the principle of a poultice, exciting the excretion of the sweat-glands upon the entire surface of the body in contact with the bath and thereby opening the pores of the body and causing them to remain open and the artificial remedial agent is then more readily introduced by absorption through the pores of the skin and into the blood, and the poison inthe blood is more readily eliminated.

The temperature at which the baths are used is of much importance and must be regulated according to the conditions of the use of the bath.

The mud-baths properly medicated are ex ceedingly efficacious in the treatment of cases of blood-poisoning of certain characters, lll'IOO modifying the effects of said poisons, or in eliminating the poisons from the system.

diagnosis of any special case, where the particular remedies needed for the disease may be prepared and mixed with the moist earth;

or certain general remedies applicable to a class of diseases may be prepared and the bath mixed, and kept, and sold in proper receptacles for transportation or use.

I claim- 1. The method, substantially as herein described, of forming medicaments suitable for external application, which consists in preparing a composition of earth, Water, and the desired artificial remedial medicament, and placing the samewithin a suitable bath, lavatory, or other proper receptacle in which the portions of the patient to be treated may be placed, and subjected to the'same while maintained at a suitable temperature.

2. An artificial remedial medicament consisting of moist earthy matter combined with an artificial medicinal agent contained in a suitable receptacle, substantially as described.

' OLIVER E. DAVIS.

Attest:

J. WM. STREHLI, ED. R. HILL. 

